Governors Join as 'Big Four' to Pool Clout

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON, July 19 - It is a lobbying dream team that calls itself The Big Four: a Hollywood star turned politician, a formidable East Coast fund-raiser, a close friend of the president and the president's little brother.

They are among the nation's most prominent Republican governors - Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, George E. Pataki of New York, Rick Perry of Texas and Jeb Bush of Florida - and they are increasingly concerned that smaller states are gobbling up more than their fair share of federal aid, particularly because of the disproportionate clout those states have in Congress.

So these governors are pooling their considerable political influence to advance the interests of their states, in a move that has caught the attention of politicians and power brokers along K Street in Washington. "Very impressive," said Bill Paxon, an influential Washington lobbyist who was thought of as a potential speaker of the House before he left Congress in 1999. "In the lobbying world, it just doesn't get any better than that."

The alliance represents the first time in recent memory that the governors of the nation's four most populous states have entered into a formal agreement to jointly lobby members of Congress, according to political historians and analysts.

http://nytimes.com/2004/07/20/nyregion/20lobby.html

[bobbieinok]

1. surprise---they're all republicans .... the deal: you get me elected and..

[Not Me]

2. Speaking of Bill Paxon...

Has he come out of the closet yet?

[tlcandie]

3. Ya, makes you wonder exactly what else they have up their

"devious* (jeebie's word) sleeves. Wonder where on earth they think they will find this aid? Are states going to get into squabbles now because each one thinks they deserve the crumbs moreso than another state and might makes right?

Should be fun! NOT!

[Democat]

4. Our party is weak to let them control the 4 biggest states!

We need some fresh faces to fight for us.

The Republicans control everything even though they are a minority - that's called failed Democratic leadership!

[Massacure]

5. Why do states think they deserve cash from the federal governement?

I don't see the difference between the federal government taxing people, and state government taxing people.

The entire problem would be solved if the federal government just stopped giving money to the states, and made the states raise their own money.